I have been working my way through Romans 8 in my Sunday messages for the last few months. It is one of the most glorious chapters in the New Testament. It has had theologians debating deep Biblical concepts for centuries. Seminary students likewise. Yet I’m not sure if Paul wrote the letter to theologians or intellectuals. I think he wrote it to the church in Rome, which probably would have been made up of rather common folks like us … possibly even with a large contingent of slaves since Rome functioned on slave labor.
These common people would be facing persecution even martyrdom at times for their faith. They needed something rock solid to keep them steady. Paul told them in 8:28 that no matter what they faced, they could “know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
That raises the enormous question, “How can we be sure that all things will work for the good?” After all, all things include not only the good that comes from our good, good God, but also our present sufferings (v 18) and as Paul will outline later, tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword (v 35).
I read a commentator who said that we can trust this promise of God because God’s ultimate purpose is to exalt the preeminence of His Son. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29
If our salvation is all about the supremacy of Jesus Christ; then it is bound up with God’s eternal purpose to glorify His Son through all eternity. That’s how we can know for sure that for those who love Christ, “all things” will ultimately work out for their good. Amen.
